This invention relates generally to an illumination system which provides white light illumination. More particularly, it relates to an illumination system which provides illumination using an ultra-violet (UV) or x-ray radiation emitting device and a luminescent material which converts the UV radiation or x-rays to white light.
A luminescent material absorbs energy in one region of the electromagnetic spectrum and emits radiation energy in another region of the spectrum. Typically, the energy of the photons emitted is lower than the energy of the photons absorbed. A luminescent material in powder form is commonly called a phosphor, while a luminescent material in the form of a transparent solid body is commonly called a scintillator.
Most useful phosphors and scintillators emit radiation in the visible portion of the spectrum in response to the absorption of radiation which is outside the visible portion of the spectrum. Thus, the phosphor converts electromagnetic radiation to which the human eye is not sensitive into electromagnetic radiation to which the human eye is sensitive. Most phosphors are responsive to more energetic portions of the electromagnetic spectrum than the visible portion of the spectrum. Thus, there are phosphors and scintillators which are responsive to ultraviolet light (as in fluorescent lamps), electrons (as in cathode ray tubes) and x-rays (as in radiography).
Two broad classes of luminescent materials are recognized. These are self-activated luminescent materials and impurity-activated luminescent materials.
A self-activated luminescent material is one in which the pure crystalline host material, upon absorption of a high energy photon, elevates electrons to an excited state from which they return to a lower energy state by emitting a photon. Self-activated luminescent materials normally have a broad spectrum emission pattern because of the relatively wide range of energies which the electron may have in either the excited or the lower energy states. Thus, excited electrons emit photons with a fairly wide range of energies during the transition from excited to lower energy state, the energy of the emitted photon depending on the particular energies the electron has before and after its emissive transition.
An impurity activated luminescent material is normally one in which a non-luminescent host material has been modified by including an activator species which is present in the host material in a relatively low concentration, such as in the range from about 200 parts per million to 1,000 parts per million. However, some materials require several mole or atomic percent of activator ions for optimized light output. With an impurity activated luminescent material, the activator ions may directly absorb the incident photons or the lattice may absorb the incident photons and transfer the absorbed photon energy to the activator ions.
Alternatively, if the photon is absorbed directly by the activator ion, the photon raises an electron of the activator ion to an excited state. These electrons, in returning to their lower energy state, emit a photon of luminescent light.
When a host lattice absorbs the incident photon (i.e. the excitation energy) and transfers it to the activator ion, the host lattice acts as a sensitizer. The host lattice may also be doped with sensitizer atoms. The sensitizer atoms absorb the incident photon either directly, or from the host lattice, and transfer it to the activator ion.
Typically, it is desirable that the light from a lamp provide white light, so that light from the sun, a natural light source, is imitated. The sun is a black body radiator, and thus its radiation emission spectrum obeys Planck's equation:E(λ)=Aλ−5/(exp(B/Tc)−1). 
E(λ) is the amount of light emitted at wavelength λ, Tc is the color temperature of the black body, and A and B are constants. As the temperature, Tc, of the black body increases, the wavelength of the highest intensity emission will decrease. Thus, as the temperature of a black body with a peak intensity emission in the red is increased, the peak intensity emission will shift toward the blue. Although the highest intensity emission shifts in wavelength (and therefore color) with a change in temperature, the color of the broad spectrum of light emitted from a black body is considered to be white.
In contrast to the broad spectral range of light emitted from a black body radiator, the range of wavelengths of light emitted from a white light luminescent lamp may consist of only a couple of narrow emission bands, each band with a narrow range of wavelengths. These narrow emission bands may be seen as white light because, in general, the color of any light source may be matched by using a mixture of three primary colors. White light, for example, may be generated by mixing blue and orange light, or blue, green, and red light, or other combinations.
Because any real color may be matched by a combination of other colors, it is possible to represent any real color with color point coordinates x and y in a C.I.E. chromaticity diagram as shown in FIG. 1. The C.I.E. specification of colors and chromaticity diagrams are discussed, for example, in a textbook by K. H. Butler, “Fluorescent Lamp Phosphors, Technology and Theory” (Penn. State U. Press 1980), pages 98-107, which is incorporated by reference. The color point coordinates of any real color are represented by a point located within the region bounded by the curved line representing spectral colors from extreme red to extreme violet, and the line directly between extreme red and extreme violet. In FIG. 1, the spectral curved line is marked at certain points by the wavelength (in nm) corresponding to that color point.
The color points corresponding to a black body at various temperatures are given by the black body locus (BBL). Because the color emitted from a black body is considered to be white, and white light is generally desirable for a lamp, it is generally desirable that color point of the light emitted from the luminescent material of a luminescent lamp fall on or near the BBL. A portion of the BBL is shown in FIG. 1 with several color temperature points highlighted on the BBL.
Another measure of the whiteness of the light emitted from a light source is given by the color rendering index (CRI) of the light source. A CRI of 100 is an indication that the light emitted from the light source is similar to that from a black body source, i.e., white.
Currently, commercial systems are available which can provide visible white light illumination using a light emitting diode (LED) combined with a phosphor. For example, one commercial system includes a blue light emitting diode of InGaN semiconductor combined with a Y3Al5O12—Ce3+ (YAG-Ce3+) phosphor. The YAG-Ce3+ phosphor is coated on the InGaN LED, and a portion of the blue light emitted from the LED is converted to yellow light by the phosphor. Another portion of the blue light from the LED is transmitted through the phosphor. Thus, this system emits both blue light emitted from the LED, and yellow light emitted from the phosphor. The mixture of blue and yellow emission bands are perceived as white light by an observer with a CRI in the middle 80s and a color temperature, Tc, that ranges from about 6000 K to about 8000 K. The preferred color temperature of the white light illumination system will depend upon the particular application and preference of the user.
However, the cerium doped YAG phosphor suffers from several disadvantages. First, the cerium doped YAG phosphor system excited with a blue LED requires precise control of the cerium concentration in order to emit white light, i.e., light with a color point on or near the BBL. Second the color of the light output of the blue LED/YAG phosphor system is sensitive to the phosphor thickness. Third, the cerium doped YAG has a low efficiency and a yellow color output with excitation from a radiation source with wavelengths in the UV.
To maintain white light emitted from the blue LED and cerium doped YAG phosphor system, the cerium concentration must be controlled. A deviation in cerium concentration from the desired concentration may result in an undesired deviation from white in the color of the light generated by the system. While the cerium concentration may affect the color of the light generated by the system, the thickness of the phosphor material, as discussed below, is a more important consideration and requires careful control for generating good quality white light.
The white light is generated by a mixture of the yellow light emitted by the phosphor and the blue light emitted by the LED and transmitted through the phosphor. Thus, the color output of the system will be very sensitive to the thickness of the phosphor material. As the thickness increases, more blue light is absorbed by the phosphor instead of being transmitted through. The light emitted by the system will then have a stronger yellow component emitted from the phosphor as compared to the blue component transmitted through. The resulting light will thus appear yellowish as the thickness of the phosphor material deviates above the desired thickness. Likewise, the light emitted by the system will appear bluish if the phosphor thickness deviates below the desired thickness.
Furthermore the cerium doped YAG phosphor does not work well with UV excitation. Specifically, the cerium doped YAG phosphor system has a poor UV efficiency. Furthermore, since blue radiation transmitted from the LED is required to produce white light, such white light output cannot be achieved using YAG-Ce3+ and a UV emitting LED.
Another known white light illumination system which employs luminescent materials uses a blend of phosphors, each phosphor having different emission bands. The different emission bands together generate white light illumination. This system requires more than a single phosphor to generate the white light illumination, and is complicated to manufacture.